Sports history is always interesting because there's always something to argue about. So, using the excuse that theres's kind of been a lull these past few days in the world of college football; let's go back and revisit one of the most controversial games in the history of the sport-the 5th Down Game.
Background: Colorado-Missouri at Missouri in 1990. Colorado was down 31-27 in the last few minutes of the game, but was making a drive to come back. Colorado called a timeout after the 2nd down, just a few yards short of the goal line, but officials forgot to flip the down marker to 3rd down. Colorado came back after their timeout and were given 3 shots to score, instead of 2. On the 5th down, Colorado ran the ball into the endzone, winning the game 33-31.
Anyway, people went ballistic.
The officials realized what they'd done, but didn't have the authority to go back and change it. So the score still stands today and Colorado went on to share the National Championship with Georgia Tech.
Now, while 5th downs are pretty uncommon, they do happen in college football. What makes this game so special is that it's the only one where it's so blatantly affected the outcome of the game and, more importantly, the National Championship.
(The following clip is a little long, if you wanna get to the meat of it, fast forward a few minutes)
Clip taken from Youtube
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Ha! I had no idea that this had happened. Thanks for digging it up! I hate it when blown calls - and in this case shoddy basic officiating - directly affect a game's outcome. Hilarious that Mizzou fans didn't realize they lost - or at least decided to tear down the goal posts anyway.
ReplyDeleteThat's crazy. I can't believe they didn't rectify it. I bet the Mizzou coach would've been irate, probably lost a bonus he would've gotten for winning. Crappy. I would've been pissed.
ReplyDeleteAnd all of the players who worked so hard and thought they won until the Refs "forgot" and added the 5th down. That in itself is incredible. How do you forget?? It's not like the count through 30 downs or some large number. It's 4. It is simplicity. Or in this case, stupidity.
Agreeing with the others comments, I'm shocked that something this idiotic happened, and the fact that it decided the national championship is completely unforgivable. I never heard of this before and I applaud you for digging this up.
ReplyDeleteMy heart goes out to the Mizzou team and fans. Being on the wrong side of a call like that will be hard to ever overcome mentally.
You said this has happened before, but how many times? I'm quite curious.
Wow, that is rediculous, I am surprised we dont hear of that more today. Both of those teams are in the Big 12, and you would think again that Mizzou fans would not for get this and there would be an intense rivalry built up from that.
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